Uploaded January 2013 | Updated September 2026, 11 minutes ago
Federal Physicians working for the US Bureau of Mines in the late 1920, created a miner's health rating system for the lead and zinc mine owners of the Tri-State region of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. The letter rating indicated if a man had silicosis and Tb that often accompanied silicosis. An F card meant the man should not work or be hired. Mine owners used the rating to discriminate against miners with these diseases. A shortened version of this film that was shown at the conclusion of the 1940 Tri-State Silicosis Conference in Joplin, Missouri, a gathering of industry and labor leaders to investigate and highlight the danger of silicosis, a debilitating lung disease from inhaling the dust. This is from the film, Men and Dust, which is posted to my YouTube channel. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins attended the conference at the Connor Hotel, as did Dr. Alice Hamilton. The film was produced by the noted Great Depression era photographer Sheldon Dick.. Dick's film is surprisingly experimental with a unsettling score and a dramatic narration that has a jarring effect on the viewer. It is an important piece of occupational and environmental health history because of its haunting advocacy for the welfare of the region's miners and their families and its stark images of the men who worked the Tri-State Mining District during the Depression era. Men and Dust is an exposé based on the findings of the Tri-State Survey. It depicts the lead and zinc mining communities at the junction of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, and their problems of survival. In the film we see the fight led by the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union for improved mine owners efforts to eliminate silicosis, lead poisoning, and tuberculosis. Near the end of the film is a call for a national workers compensation system to deal with occupational disease, Federal government enforcement of improved working conditions, proper hospital facilities and safe housing. For a summary of the Tri-State Silicosis Conference, go to http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/128/. For a detailed look at the silicosis problem, read the wonderful book Deadly Dust: Silicosis and the On-Going Struggle to Protect Workers' Health by David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, 2nd edition 2006 -- go to http://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/9780472031108-fm.pdf for a short introduction. Sadly, today two million workers are still exposed to potentially hazardous levels of silica dust, mostly in the construction and sandblasting industries. OSHA's current silica dust rule, issued in 1971, allows workers to be exposed at levels far exceeding those considered safe. Almost two years ago OSHA submitted a proposal to the White House to update the standard that protects workers from exposure to crystalline silica dust. Although the review should have concluded after 45 days, the proposal remained at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). A copy of this film is available in the US National Archive film collection in College Park, MD. Thanks to the Historic Joplin YouTube Channel for posting this film in November 2011.
Federal Physicians working for the US Bureau of Mines in the late 1920, created a miner's health rating system for the lead and zinc mine owners of the Tri-State region of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. The letter rating indicated if a man had silicosis and Tb that often accompanied silicosis. An F card meant the man should not work or be hired. Mine owners used the rating to discriminate against miners with these diseases. A shortened version of this film that was shown at the conclusion of the 1940 Tri-State Silicosis Conference in Joplin, Missouri, a gathering of industry and labor leaders to investigate and highlight the danger of silicosis, a debilitating lung disease from inhaling the dust. This is from the film, Men and Dust, which is posted to my YouTube channel. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins attended the conference at the Connor Hotel, as did Dr. Alice Hamilton. The film was produced by the noted Great Depression era photographer Sheldon Dick.. Dick's film is surprisingly experimental with a unsettling score and a dramatic narration that has a jarring effect on the viewer. It is an important piece of occupational and environmental health history because of its haunting advocacy for the welfare of the region's miners and their families and its stark images of the men who worked the Tri-State Mining District during the Depression era. Men and Dust is an exposé based on the findings of the Tri-State Survey. It depicts the lead and zinc mining communities at the junction of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, and their problems of survival. In the film we see the fight led by the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union for improved mine owners efforts to eliminate silicosis, lead poisoning, and tuberculosis. Near the end of the film is a call for a national workers compensation system to deal with occupational disease, Federal government enforcement of improved working conditions, proper hospital facilities and safe housing. For a summary of the Tri-State Silicosis Conference, go to http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/128/. For a detailed look at the silicosis problem, read the wonderful book Deadly Dust: Silicosis and the On-Going Struggle to Protect Workers' Health by David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, 2nd edition 2006 -- go to http://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/9780472031108-fm.pdf for a short introduction. Sadly, today two million workers are still exposed to potentially hazardous levels of silica dust, mostly in the construction and sandblasting industries. OSHA's current silica dust rule, issued in 1971, allows workers to be exposed at levels far exceeding those considered safe. Almost two years ago OSHA submitted a proposal to the White House to update the standard that protects workers from exposure to crystalline silica dust. Although the review should have concluded after 45 days, the proposal remained at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). A copy of this film is available in the US National Archive film collection in College Park, MD. Thanks to the Historic Joplin YouTube Channel for posting this film in November 2011.
